


Among Humans

by irrasda



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28950603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrasda/pseuds/irrasda
Summary: Demon AU. Gon is a young demon leaving Whale Island for the first time. Killua's a human. They meet.
Relationships: Gon Freecs & Killua Zoldyck
Kudos: 3





	1. Before

**Gon**

Gon’s never left Whale Island before. He knows the island’s trees and grasses, its animals, knows of the waves that crash together offshore but beyond that—nothing. This place is his home; he knows nothing else.

Catching the Master of the Swamp had been Gon’s greatest accomplishment and the biggest thing to happen on the island. The Master of the Swamp ruled Whale Island’s waters but Gon had finally snatched the huge fish up in his claws after waiting on the shore, waiting so long his leaf hat had wilted, so long spiders had started spinning webs off his fur, but he had proven himself the better hunter.

And Gon knows there are bigger fish out there. Far bigger fish.

Now that he’s leaving Whale Island, Gon will get to see things he’s only heard of, amazing things. Things like cities. Snow. Humans. He’s never seen a real human before.

Gon knows what humans look like. Right now, as she dresses him under a canopy of leaves, Mito-san is in her human form, short haired, dressed in red, and Gon looks like a dark-haired little boy, but they’re not _real_ humans.

“Gon,” Mito-san says, “Why would you say animals and demons like us do bad things?”

 _Bad things_.

Such an arbitrary thing to say but Gon understands what she means. “To get food… To protect themselves… Some animals fight to decide on a mate…”

Mito gives the final tug on Gon’s sash.

“And to protect a friend, of course!”

“Why do humans do bad things?”

“Don’t they do it for the same reasons?”

Mito-san smooths down Gon’s front. “I’m sure some do.” She stands back to give Gon a look up and down. “But most humans do bad things for no reason at all.”

“I’m sure they have a reason.”

Mito-san doesn’t say anything.

Gon looks down at his new dark green outfit. He’s never worn clothes before, but he’ll need to as a human.

“Gon…”

He looks up to see Mito-san looking at him with tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay, Mito-san, you don’t have to say anything.”

Gon has already said goodbye to everyone on Whale Island. He’s said goodbye to the other demons on the island, to the birds and animals and to Kon, and to his grandmother Abe, but this is his goodbye to Mito-san.

Gon understands. Mito-san’s raised and cared for him since he was a tiny pup she licked clean; all she wants is for him to be with her, to be safe. The outside world is dangerous and full of bad things.

But that’s okay.

Ging had left Whale Island to become a Hunter and live among humans and now Gon—like his father—is leaving to become a Hunter too. Mito-san thinks Ging is worthless for abandoning the family, worthless as her cousin and worthless as Gon’s father, but Gon knows that Ging has helped lots of people, has done so many amazing things **.**

Gon knows he is bad like Ging but maybe being a Hunter will be a way for him—like Ging—to be valued and important. Maybe he could be like that. As Gon told Mito-san, the Hunter Exam isn’t for weaklings and he’s going to prove himself. Gon doesn’t know what kind of things he needs to do to be that important, but the Hunter Exam is a start.

He's going to become a Hunter.

**Killua**

“Alluka, what’s wrong?”

Her face is sad, downcast, her usual sun gone behind a stray cloud.

“You want something sweet? I can get one of the servants to get you something.” Killua hopes his little sister says yes so she can go back to smiling, problem solved, and he can sneak a few buns for himself, but Alluka shakes her head.

Killua sees the cut on his wrist; he remembers. Smiles. “Are you still bothered about the injury I got on that solo job?” She called him reckless which was ridiculous. “I told you it was just a scratch.” A scratch that had almost taken his hand off but hadn’t. Yet Killua can tell by Alluka’s expression that this isn’t what’s bothering her.

“Brother,” Alluka says, “are you leaving soon?”

“What?!” Killua sputters, “Alluka, what are you talking about? Dad said there probably won’t be another job for a while.”

“Brother,” Alluka says, “I know you want to leave here, and it’s okay. If you do---”

“Leave? Why would I leave?”

“I know you don’t want to be the Zoldyck family heir.”

Killua glares at her.

Alluka glares back.

She looks away. She is not as stubborn as her big brother.

The cloud passes.

“Last week,” Alluka says, “My nurse told me a story.”

“Oh?” Killua almost sighs from relief.

Alluka looks at him, smiling. “She told us a romantic story while she was combing my hair. The story was about a noble lady who wasn’t allowed to be with the man she loved.”

“This better not have been a sad story.”

Alluka laughs. “No, it had a happy ending. They got to be together!”

“Good.”

Alluka laughs again.

Killua smiles and reaches out, wrapping his arms around Alluka’s waist and hugging her to him. He buries his face in her hair. This is how Alluka is supposed to be. Happy and laughing, only worried about which toy she was going to play with, how she was going to do her doll’s hair. She doesn’t need to worry about him.

“But,” Alluka says, “the man she loved was a demon!”

“ _No wonder they weren’t allowed to be together!_ ”

Alluka doesn’t need to worry about him. He’s the one who looks after her. He’s the one who will one day look after the entire Zoldyck family.

Although Killua is the third oldest child, he is the chosen heir. Birth order doesn’t matter, not when Killua is nearly twelve and already stronger than his older brothers. He has his dad’s white hair. The Zoldycks are assassins and when he’s the head of the family, Killua will work the nastiest, most difficult but well-paying jobs. He will protect the family and oversee the estate. Killua has little of that power now but he still works jobs with his father and grandfather and does what he can to protect Alluka.

Alluka is his little sister and his only friend. She is also part demon. As a baby, she was possessed by a dangerous demon named Nanika who sometimes takes control of her body.

Outside the Zoldyck estate humans and demons sometogether, but here demons are kept caged. Alluka is no different. Her huge room—the room she and Killua are in now—is windowless and locked and guarded from the outside, a precaution taken to protect the family and keep Alluka herself safe. Killua visits as he is allowed; he visits her about once a week and checks in on her more often. Killua is the one who demanded their father have Alluka’s room decorated as she liked and filled with toys and treats. He is the one who makes sure Alluka is always provided with female nurses and servants.

But Alluka is right: Killua doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want to be an assassin. Killua doesn’t want his family to tell him what to do, especially when he isn’t sure he agrees with them. Not on Alluka and not with their criticisms of him.

Gramps says _You’re too emotional_. Killua knows this isn’t true. He spares no emotions towards his targets. He doesn’t care about them! But Gramps and Dad don’t seem to want him to show emotion even toward family. Gramps lectured him after the last job he’d worked with his father.

_Silva told me you hesitated to strike at the target._

Dad’s arm was in the way!

_You think your attack strong enough to hurt your father? Kil, if you hesitate, you will be unable to complete your job. If you show emotion, you could die. We don’t want that to happen to you--- I certainly don’t._

Family is supposed to look after each other but hurting his father feels wrong. Other things feel wrong. But Killua doesn’t know what feels right. How to solve it. He needs to get out of here, to get away.

But how?


	2. Beginning

_Kil, would you like to see him?_

Killua first left home as a runaway. He slashed his mother across the face, stabbed his older brother Milluki and escaped, ending up at the Hunter Exam only to be captured and brought back. Now he’s leaving with his father’s permission.

_So, I’ll ask again, would you like to see your friends?_

Killua’s leaving with Gon, Kurapika, and Loradio—the friends he made during the Hunter Exam. Gon is a boy his age. Well, Killua thinks of Gon as another kid his age, but he isn’t. When Killua asked Gon how old he was, Gon blurted _Almost 100!_ before realizing he’d outed himself and adding _but in human years, I bet I’d be about your age!_ Gon isn’t human. He’s a demon, even though Killua doesn’t think of him like one. Gon’s funny and interesting and kind of weird but he’s more human seeming than some of the actual people Killua’s met. During the exam Gon had been accompanied by a blonde in foreign clothes and an old guy with glasses and a goofy face—Kurapika and Liborio.

Now, Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio—that’s his name! —are his friends. The three of them came here to see him, travelling all the way to Kukuroo Mountain, the mountain his family owns. Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio climbed the mountain, pushed their way past the Testing Gate, and traversed the estate’s massive forest to reach the manor. Killua knows how difficult this is for normal people; it means a lot to him.

But he has friends now. Illumi is wrong! His eldest brother Illumi said he was incapable of friendship, incapable of seeing anyone as anything except a target. Illumi told Killua that if he tried to be friends with Gon, he’d only end up wanting to kill him or lock him in a cage. Killua knows Illumi’s right but he wants him to be wrong.

Killua will prove him wrong.

“Look, there’s stuff I want to do before I actually use my Hunter’s License.”

“Yeah? Like what?” Killua says.

“Well,” Gon says, “I really want to find Kite and give back the card he lost, and most important of all I wanna punch Hisoka in the face and make him take back this badge that he ‘let’ me have! Until I do that, I just can’t feel that I’ve actually earned my Hunter’s License!”

So, Killua’s travelling with Gon. Just the two of them. Kurapika and Leorio have left to do their own stuff.

Killua’s glad to be with Gon and going somewhere far away from his family. He only wishes Alluka could come, too. Killua was told while he was gone, Alluka fell sick. Her eyes went black and thirty people died. She and Nanika are now kept under even tighter guard-- no one in or out until Alluka’s eyes change back.

Dad said _Kil, there’s nothing you can do for her_ and he’s right. So Killua’s leaving without Alluka. But he’ll figure something out. He’ll be back.

Killua turns to Gon. “Ready for our new beginning?”

“Yeah!”

**EXTRA, from Ch. 3: Heaven:**

_Hisoka’s scary. Gon knows Hisoka is stronger than him---lots of people are stronger than him, Killua’s stronger than him! —but what bothers Gon most is how much Hisoka terrifies him. The danger excites him a little, makes him a little curious, but he mostly wants to run away. And he can’t do that! If he lets fear take over, he won’t be able to fight anybody, ever!_

_And to think he owes that creep. Gon’s gonna punch Hisoka in the face and make him take back his badge._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of a demon au isn't mine, but I've always liked the idea.  
> I wrote these short chapters a while ago. They were going to be the beginning of a longer fic but that's not happening lol. 
> 
> Posted this, though, because I had a lot of fun writing it and hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Stay safe out there.


End file.
